HOUSTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A metal baking sheet from a Houston elementary school has become an object of veneration for hundreds of Catholics who see an image of the Virgin Mary.

The pan bearing what many believe is a miraculous religions image is now on display in the yard of Sylvia Calderon, a member of the PTA at Pugh Elementary School, the Houston Chronicle reported. Calderon gave the baking sheet a home after officials at the school said they could not accommodate the crowds who wanted to see it.

Guadalupe Rodriguez, a cafeteria worker at the school, discovered the image on Ash Wednesday as she cleaned off baking trays. She showed it to other workers who agreed that they saw the Virgin.

By Thursday, word of the find had gotten around and visitors started arriving at the cafeteria in droves. The pan was moved to Calderon's house.

School officials also believe it is a miracle, even though they can't accommodate it.

"I think someone was watching over us," said Lyda Guerrero, Pugh's principal. "I think someone is watching over this community and this school district and this school."

The human body, particularly the face, is among the most recognisable objects ... part of the art of personal camouflage is an attempt to partially invert the features of the face, in order to make it less recognisable. Finding 'faces' in natural phenomena is quite common ... the Cydonia feature is merely famous. This doesn't mean that the perceived 'face' means anything ... other than if something looks even remotely like a face, people will notice it. We're designed that way.

12
posted on 02/27/2007 10:46:20 AM PST
by ArrogantBustard
(Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)

I guess if it brings some people peace and happiness than I don't see the harm. I agree that it looks like a thumb though or at least a finger pointing. Our world is so serious that people seek out things to calm them down. As a Catholic, I think it is cool that people get some happiness out of it.

The toast is not intended for consumption A decade-old toasted cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the Virgin Mary has sold on the eBay auction website for $28,000. An internet casino confirmed it had purchased the sandwich, saying it had become a "part of pop culture".

Goldenpalace.com says it will take the sandwich on world tour before selling it and donating the money to charity.

Diane Duyser, from Florida, says the sandwich has never gone mouldy since she made it 10 years ago.

By the time the sandwich auction closed on Monday the sale had received over 1.7 million hits on the auction site.

'Mystical power'

"We will definitely use the sandwich to raise money for charity, and we hope it will raise people's spirits as well," said Richard Rowe, the casino's CEO.

"With the... thousands of search engine queries, it is obvious that this is something people want to know more about... and Golden Palace will help spread the word.

"We believe that everyone should be able to see it and learn of its mystical power for themselves."

Last week, Mrs Duyser told reporters the sandwich had brought her luck - including winnings of $70,000 at a casino near her Florida home.

I went to take a bite out of it, and then I saw this lady looking back at me. I hollered for [my husband]. It scared me at first

Diane Duyser

Mrs Duyser says she noticed the image burned into her sandwich as she was about to tuck into it in autumn 1994.

"I went to take a bite out of it, and then I saw this lady looking back at me," she said, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

"I hollered for him," she said, gesturing to her husband, Greg. "It scared me at first."

She says she has done nothing to preserve the sandwich except keeping it in a plastic box, but "it doesn't fall apart or crumble or anything".

Nevertheless, before auctioning her sandwich Mrs Duyser cautioned buyers that it was "not intended for consumption".

The item has inspired sellers to place dozens of spin-off items on the online auction site, including attempts at replica burnt toast, T-shirts, ornamental plates, and domain names.

One seller is even offering a "Virgin Mary" sandwich toaster - though the item description includes the caveat that the item "may or may not reproduce the Virgin Mary image".

When I joined the RCC a few years back, I was under the impression that the present-day Church frowned on the object-veneration that had been a cause of so much Catholic-bashing in the past. I love my Church, but this kind of stuff is embarrassing.

What is so terrible about people being attached to something that REPRESENTS to them, at least, something that God actually did?

If God dropped a Duesenberg in your back yard from the sky, would you be awed and be interested in keeping it or at least showing it to tell people how God had interacted with you? Or would you just discard it as "just another object"?

The church heirarchy certainly doesn't endorse it, but what are they going to do if rank & file Catholics get a kick out of this stuff?

Hey, I'm interested in art. Sometimes I might see The Thinker in a cloud formation.Does that mean the director of Musee Rodin should come over here & slap a gag order on me? The RC Church is most certainly not a democracy but it's hardly a repressive dictatorship that controls members' thoughts & actions around the globe.

I don't think it's really fair to extrapolate from this that these people are seeking validation for their faith in the cookie sheet or that they're venerating it in any way either.

In fact, to 'see' that here would require an imagination at least as overactive as these folks', I dare say.

If God dropped a Duesenberg in your back yard from the sky, would you be awed and be interested in keeping it or at least showing it to tell people how God had interacted with you? Or would you just discard it as "just another object"?

Well gee, it is a Duesenberg. And it depends on how badly the car was damaged in the fall.

What is so terrible about people being attached to something that REPRESENTS to them, at least, something that God actually did?

What does it say about someone's faith that they need a baking sheet to be reminded of God? And you're assuming without a shred of proof that God is behind a food stain on a baking sheet. Now if you pointed to a rainbow or the intricacies of a tree I'd say God's hand is evident...a baking sheet...sorry, no.

If God dropped a Duesenberg in your back yard from the sky, would you be awed and be interested in keeping it or at least showing it to tell people how God had interacted with you? Or would you just discard it as "just another object"?

Without a doubt, that is the most bizarre question I've ever been asked on a message board. I'll let you know once a Dusenberg drops in my backyard...until then it remains just an irrational question.

Veneration CAN denote worship, but even taking veneration to mean a high degree of respect and honor...well, I submit that a baking tray is not an appropriate focus. Honestly, don't you see why people think it's nuts to give reverence to a baking tray?

That passage talks about a childlike faith, not a reverence for baking trays.

If someone's faith so permeates his life that even a smudge on a baking tray reminds him of that which is holy ... I, for one, am not going to slam his childlike faith. Jesus expressly advised against such a slam.

Me? I don't really see it ... probably wouldn't at all if it weren't pointed out. But I have a lot more respect for childlike faith than pseudo-sophisticated mockery.

YMMV.

Out.

46
posted on 02/27/2007 11:52:53 AM PST
by ArrogantBustard
(Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; And wears mans smudge and shares mans smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent; There lives the dearest freshness deep down things; And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

its not, its a sense of reverance to a baking tray but the image on it....

The "image" on it is a smudge.

just as standing in front of mt rushmore isnt venerating the mountain, but what the four faces represent.

I wouldn't venerate what the 4 faces represent nor the mountain...but in either case you are comparing a random smudge with an intentionally created piece of art. We shouldn't venerate art either...our religious affections should be to God. I really don't want to go round and round on this topic. I'd bet any amount of money that such topics have been debated ad naseum on this board (although I haven't participated or looked for them). I do ask a favor...can you reassure me that you at least understand why people might see revering a baking sheet or a smudge on a baking sheet as strange? I'm not asking for you to agree, just confirm that you can glimpse why some find it odd or questionable.

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